BUSINESS PROFESSIONALISM- Annotated Bibliography | Assignment Sample

Introduction

Our common sense and general knowledge refer to leadership as the practice of leading a group of people for a particular cause. Generally organizations appoints a leader to look after the subordinates who would work under the leader for accomplishment of goals timely and effectively. Leadership varies from person to person, and for that reason it has many traits, theories, styles, proposed by many experts around the globe. Leadership is nothing but an art of getting things done by a group of people (subordinates) for the development of an organization.

Spillane J.P. (2012) Distributed leadership

The author James P. Spillane, explains how distributed leadership is different from shared leadership, team leadership and democratic leadership. He used the illustration of leadership practice in a school, as how it happens through informal interactions and formal procedures. The study also shows that responsibility for leadership includes multiple leaders depending upon the routine and subject area (Spillane 2012, pp 12). The study also identified interactions between leaders as the primary characteristic, as leadership practice can be spread over across two or more leaders working separately yet interdependently. The author further explains his theory by examining the distribution of leadership among principals, teachers, and administration of school. His theory comprises of three interacting factors or components: leaders, followers, and aspects of situations, which includes routines, structures and a variety of tools ((Spillane 2012, pp 9). He also states that these interacting factors should be understood together because they are somewhat more than the sum of component parts or practices.

Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2012). Sustainable leadership

Sustainable leadership is when leaders do not harm the society and the environment to keep up with the financial performance of the organizations. The authors, Hargreaves and Fink, even specify about avoiding depletion of human and financial recourses because sustainability means taking initiatives for the development without harming others as well as the environment (Hargreaves & Fink, 2012, pp 8). To explain their theory of sustainable leadership they brought in some characteristics or traits of leaders: Depth, Endurance, Breadth, Justice, Diversity, Resourcefulness and Conservation. According to the authors, sustainability is the most neglected aspect of leadership, as the traditional beliefs dwell on getting things done and having development without caring about the development of others and society. The authors also talk about how leaders should stop the less valuable plans, start with what brings more development and is valuable, continue with the plan that provides highest and constant development and subvert the plans which threatens the environment(Hargreaves & Fink, 2012, pp 6).

Aaker, D. A., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2012). Brand Leadership

Brand leadership refers to the techniques and procedures of selling a product or service in the market by an organization. The organization which usually produces the best-selling product or service is known as the brand leader in the market (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2012, pp 5). A strong brand, being a very crucial part of an organization, indicates and develops the financial health of that organization. The author also mentions how the stock market agencies and the other big companies keep a close watch on brands and how a brand leadership paves a clear path of future growth for an organization. Being a brand leader in the market requires a lot of effort and timealong with the development of reputation for knowledge and value(Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2012, pp 7). The author also mentions clearly that without a strong brand reputation, no brand can ever become a leader in its market area, as brand identity is the main and foremost aspect of brand leadership(Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2012, pp 4).

Spears, L. C., & Lawrence, M. (Eds.). (2016). Practicing servant-leadership: Succeeding through trust, bravery, and forgiveness

Servant leadership is when the main goal or aim of the leader is to serve. Servant leaderseeks not to be served but to serve the people, bring in authority, help the employees of his organization develop and perform to their highest potentiality (Spears & Lawrence (Eds.), 2016, pp 9). The author also mentions that the only priority for the servant leader is the need of others, because a servant becomes a leader only if that leader remains a servant. The author also speaks about some of the traits and characteristics that a servant leader should possess: Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the growth of people, Building community. The research of the author also brings in the fact that the adoption of servant leadership in different organizations and professional institutions has been increasing over the years, because a very important and attractive fact of this practice is that everyone seeks an opportunity to both lead and serve at the same time.

Bernheim, B. D., & Bodoh-Creed, A.L. (2020). A theory of decisive leadership.

The leaders who make well-informed and time-sensitive decisions are known as decisive leaders. Decisive leadership is the practice in which the leaders gather appropriate and important information from their colleagues and prevailing reports, so as to make the final decision which would result in potential outcomes (Bernheim & Bodoh_Creed, 2020, pp 6). Decisiveness is a very important trait for a leader and is also very important in any sort of workplace because it is the key to achievement of goals with effective execution of plans. A sole and very important trait of a decisive leader is to make appropriate decisions timely and implement on it because decisions are the building blocks for a successful career of any workplace or organization (Bernheim & Bodoh_Creed, 2020, pp 6). The author in his article takes the example of voters electing decisive leaders and talks about how delay in decisions can lead to higher costs and how a leader creates his identity among others by taking appropriate decisions rapidly.

Gipson, A. N., Pfaff, D. L., Mendelsohn, D. B., Catenacci, L. T., & Burke, W. W. (2017). Women leadership: Selection, development, leadership style, and performance.

Though leadership was never gender specific, but still an imaginary wall kept women barred from taking over the baton of leadership, even if they were equally qualified and talented as a male leader. Women around the world are evolving and reaching new landmarks in every field, and even statistics show that companies and organizations led by women have both,better success stories and financial health (Gipsonet.  al, 2017, pp 7). Women possess a transformational style of leadership, they are not only some leader of an organization but also the epitome for their followers, because they spend time on personal development as well as on development of their followers into better people. Women are very focused and serious about the job assigned to them, and they always try to complete the tasks efficiently before the deadline. As per my research and prevailing statistical data, women make great leaders and even sometimes better than male leaders, but again leadership is not gender specific.

Nguyen, T. T., Mia, L., Winata, L., & Chong, V. K. (2017). Effect of transformational-leadership style and management control system on managerial performance.

Transformational leadership is nothing but identifying a need for change for the development of a firm. Transformational leadership enhances the morale, inspiration and work efficiency of followers through different procedures; which include being epitome of followers to inspire them, to motivate followers to work efficiently and understanding and evaluating strengths and weaknesses of the followers. Management control system gathers information from prevailing records and uses the required data to evaluate the performance of different aspects of an organization like financial assets, human resources, etc (Nguyenet. al, 2017, pp 4).The author further explains how transformational leadership and management control system brings a direct and positive change on the managerial performance(Nguyen et. al, 2017, pp 4). It even brings positive effect on the use of broad-scope accounting information and comprehensive performance measurement system, but does not affect the reward system.

Alonderiene, R., & Majauskaite, M. (2016). Leadership style and job satisfaction in higher education institutions

This article is solely based on examining the effect of leadership style on the job satisfaction of faculties in higher education institutions. According to the author and the research conducted in some of the public and private universities, it was seen that the servant leadership style affected the job satisfaction of the faculties positively, whereas the autocrat leadership style affected the job satisfaction negatively (Alonderiene & Majauskaite, 2016, pp 5). The research further explains that the servant leadership does affect the job satisfaction positively because the leaders in servant leadership demonstrates leadership behaviors among his subordinates and always helps their subordinates to develop and also motivates them to work with full potentiality.

Kirkpatick, S. A., &Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: do traits matter?

The authors Shelley and Edwin speak about the traits of a leader, and the long and controversial history of leadership traits and characteristics. The author speaks about six traits which differs a leader from a common man: Drive (includes achievement, motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity and initiative); Leadership motivation; honesty and integrity; self-confidence; cognitive ability; and knowledge of the business. The research on the ‘Great Man’ theories popular in the 19^th and 20^th centuries shows that possession of some traits does not guarantee leadership or make someone a successful leader (Kirkpatick & Locke, 1991, pp 8). The authors also claim that leaders do not have to be great men or women by being intellectual genius but they do need to have the “right stuff”, which is not present in all people(Kirkpatick & Locke, 1991, pp 8). The traits mentioned by the authors help the leaders to formulate effective plans for organizational development and implement the plans in reality.    

Horner, M. (1997). Leadership theory: past, present and future

The author, Melissa Horner, explains the significant change in the nature of leadership, over the time. The organizations have also shifted their policies of work structure, methods and procedures over the past several decades. Leadership, typically defined by the qualities and traits of a leader, has spanned across cultures, theoretical beliefs and decades (Horner, 1997, pp 11). The organizations switched over from traditional hierarchical designs to favorable structures that support a much stronger teamwork. The author also discusses about the trends and changes that leadership went through over the decades. The article talks about the characteristics of some successful leaders and also explains several theories of leadership and also how these theories have changed over time(Horner, 1997, pp 11). In addition to the changes prescribed for the current development of organizations in context of team leadership, the author also proposed some modifications in leadership for team-based structures.

Conclusion

We get a detailed study of leadership from the 10 articles about leadership theories, leadership styles, leadership traits, etc. We get to study different cases and examine the impact of leadership practices on the followers or subordinates as well as the organization. We compared leadership styles for better results, criticized traditional beliefs on leadership and have brought light upon most of the neglected but very important topics. We also clearly get to understand that a leader is not born but made.

References

Aaker, D. A., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2012). Brand Leadership. Simon and Schuster

Alonderiene, R., & Majauskaite, M. (2016). Leadership style and job satisfaction in higher education institutions. International Journal of Educational Management.

Bernheim, B. D., & Bodoh_Creed, A. L. (2020). A theory of decisive leadership. Games and Economic Behavior 121, 146-168

Gipson, A. N., Pfaff, D. L., Mendelsohn, D. B. Catenacci, L. T., & Burke, W. W. (2017). Women leadership: Selection, development, leadership style, and performance. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 53(1), 32-65

Hargreaves, A., & Fink, D. (2012). Sustainable leadership (Vol. 6). John Wiley & Sons

Horner, M. (1997). Leadership theory: past, present and future. Team Performance Management: An International Journal.

Kirkpatick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1991). Leadership: do traits matter? Academy of Management Perspectives, 5(2), 48-60

Nguyen, T. T., Mia, L., Winata, L., & Chong, V. K. (2017). Effect of transformational-leadership style and management control system on managerial performance. Journal of Business Research, 70, 202-213

Spears, L. C., & Lawrence, M. (Eds.). (2016). Practicing servant- leadership: Succeeding through trust, bravery, and forgiveness. John Wiley & Sons

Spillane J. P. (2012) Distributed leadership (Vol. 4), John Wiley & Sons